Although the series had been remastered in high-definition for the DVD release, before 2016, the only Animated Series episode released in high-definition had been "More Tribbles, More Troubles", which appeared as a bonus feature on the TOS Season 2 Blu-ray.

The possibility of the series' release in Blu-ray format was first mentioned by Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray producer Robert Meyer Burnett in an interview with TrekCore.com on 16 January2013. Burnett later clarified that this was just a "wish list" of projects he'd like to see, but not something that was actually being developed at the time. [1]

The first official confirmation of the release was published on 18 March2016. [2]